THE RIGHT WAY (M. Sager, 2021. Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 120 cm)
CAPITALISM IS GREAT
Shit, how can I pay? Follow economy! Inherited through money, approved by aristocracy, capitalism is right. The shitty artists into ruin; they are not realistic about the right way. Serving beauty doesn’t pay!
Hell, how can I say? Follow politics! Merited through rights, approved by meritocracy, capitalism is great. The hellish comedians into shame; they are not serious about the great way. Serving humor doesn’t pay!
Fuck, how can I convey? Follow media! Gained through voices, approved by mobocracy, capitalism is good. The fucking musicians into oblivion; they are not important for the good way. Serving inspiration doesn’t pay!
God, how can I thrive? Follow science! Achieved through tools, approved by technocracy, capitalism is correct. The godly naturalists into sickness; they are not advanced about the correct way. Serving nature doesn’t pay!
Damn, how can I realize? Follow religion! Granted through membership, approved by theocracy, capitalism is fine. The damn spirituals into condemnation; they are not chosen for the fine way. Serving the soul doesn’t pay!
Man, how can I help? Follow the state! Legit through power, approved by bureaucracy, capitalism is fair. The manly selves into oppression; they are not conform with the fair way. Serving freedom doesn’t pay!
SPORT AGAINST WIDESPREAD DISEASE NO. 1 (NO, NOT CORONA)
Like every day, I moved a lot today and even trained a little harder. I feel every muscle fiber much more and in greater detail than a lump of mass. Without a fitness center, without equipment and devices, just with my own body. Thank god gravity is still free. Exercise makes you feel good, and exercise feels good when you feel good. The opposite of a vicious circle; a circle of joy. I wish that to everyone. All it takes is a little overcoming and maybe an hour less overtime at work, TV, social media, or Netflix. Nothing new? I actually think so too. And especially nowadays, a lot of people call themselves very health-conscious. I often hear how people love nature, but I meet surprisingly few there outside of the tourist routes catered for astronomically.
Today four out of ten Swiss people are overweight. Obesity leads to cardiovascular disease (the number 1 cause of death), diabetes, and certain types of cancer (cancer is the second leading cause of death). The associated medical costs tripled between 2002 and 2012 and now amount to CHF 8 billion a year. The deeply anchored habit of the majority of the actually physically capable population seems to take the car even for short distances in fine weather and the elevator or escalator even for non-urgent situations. This is only one example, but it shows a fundamentally depraved attitude. Taxpayers’ money is used to further promote and maintain this unhealthy attitude. Corresponding infrastructure is being further expanded, and the number one “widespread disease” (still today in the Corona era) is being marketed as a business. So, the temptation is omnipresent and great to take the path of least resistance.
The most natural thing in the world is, e.g., walking even in the rain, or if you want to go faster, by bike (not to be confused with the battery-powered scooters with bike frames); to experience the freshness, beauty, and inspiration of direct contact with nature. We have fantastic bike and hiking trails in beautiful Switzerland at our disposal (I am happy to pay taxes for them). Nobody becomes overweight if more calories are burned than consumed. Healthy exercise also regulates a healthy level of appetite. Everybody enjoys movement. But humans also get used to inactivity. It is not easy to get used to exercising built into everyday life again, but it is worth it. All the best on a hopefully moving path!
We are treated and coached all the time. That is good for the gross national product; but is it also for us? Doesn’t the ever-increasing over-pedagogy of the young and over-treatment of the elderly mean that our upbringing and education do not make us self-effective individuals?
Torn by our loved ones
Listening to everyone means having to bend over the top. Looking back and planning ahead at the same time is difficult, especially when it comes to the interpersonal level. And for most people, it’s about the relationship level. Should we let them draw us into a drawer and hold us back?
Only your own past counts
The way we look at family and friends is actually always the cause of problems. Expectations, inadequacies, regrets, fear of being alone, etc. That is why our thoughts in the past should stay with ourselves. Only with us, because we all got everything we need as human beings. During the first nine months, nobody had to tell us how we were going to develop.
The meaning of a larger whole
Thoughts in the future should be less on the intra- and interpersonal level. Yes, we will lose everything one day, and we cannot insure ourselves against death either. Neither can we protect others from it; that’s part of life. What we can do, however, is to leave something other than rubbish and weakening structures for the planet and the next generations. Service to a larger whole is ultimately the only deeper meaning in life.
In the US, one in six persons currently takes a psychotropic drug. In Switzerland, around one in ten regularly consume prescribed antidepressants. This population is a minority; all the others manage to live without, and so can you.
Modern psychopharmacology began in 1950 with the synthesis of chlorpromazine. Only from then on, the industry started to produce, patent, and market its invented/categorized types of diagnoses and related pills. Remember that before 1950 you most likely would have been considered mentally healthy.
The psyche is more than the bio-mechanical brain, and only you know what’s in your soul (again, which is not to be reduced to the physiology of the brain). Why should mood, way of thinking, and motivation be possible to be “repaired” by a so-called soul plumber (in German: Seelenklemptner) who is even not addressing the soul?! Shouldn’t psychological challenges be resolved psychologically (and psycho-spiritually) instead of chemically?!
You don’t have to compare yourself anymore with your friends who are all so super successful, happy, and beautiful (according to today’s conventional notion). If you don’t aspire for the hedonistic treadmill of advertised consumption-based happiness, you will realize that you might already be happier than you were made to believe.
That you feel down might not be a genetic defect to be corrected with a pill. Prenatal, childhood, and everyday stress (see also point 3) is the main risk for affective disorders, such as depression and even Schizophrenia. Stress also affects the immune system, which is central to the nervous system and the brain’s health. Have you ever thought of reducing stress in the first place?
Antidepressants are prescribed too quickly as remedies for possibly only temporary periods of low moods that are hastily diagnosed as clinical depressions without a holistic (biopsychosocial) understanding of the situation. Antidepressants are often hardly more effective than placebo, according to the latest studies (e.g., the 2019 study of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Kopenhagen). The world is how you see it, and the treatment that works is that which you believe in. Can you think that learnable mental strategies might be healthier and more effective than pills? I know that you get the medication subsidized by the health insurance company, while the learning to control your mind and to understand the soul has to be borne by yourself. Become more independent, invest in yourself instead of in pharmaceutical companies! Such self-efficacy is a huge reward in itself.
Almost more likely than a positive effect is unwanted considerable side effects that can irreversibly persist even after stopping taking the medication: These side effects include sexual dysfunction, nausea, vomiting, restlessness, and sleep disorders.
Being in control is highly satisfying and a key factor for one’s well-being. So, do you want medically enforced distancing from your emotions, and therefore allow the obscurification of your mental faculties that are disabling the possibility for self-reflection with a clear mind? Observing in an accepting and learning attitude how a lousy mood dissolves anyway might provide the lessons to unlearn learned helplessness and enable self-help and personal growth.
Are you against (synthetic) drugs? Then follow through. How about learning to “be high on your own supply?” There are plenty of possibilities like breathing techniques (the most fundamental function of the body that impacts all its workings), exercising, creative expression, nature exposure (e.g., cold water -> no pain, no gain! :-)), and especially thoughts and acts of kindness.
As with maintaining physical hygiene, it can be good in the mental world to dust off old and prevent new pollution from anxious thinking. Desires for security and the associated fear of loss darken the mind, which leads to defense, exclusion, hatred and aggression (incidentally, ignorance and avoidance are also passive forms of hostility). Have you ever tried a media diet and stopped listening to all the bad things that tempt you to take external measures (e.g. pills)? During a news detox, you will soon feel better and begin to take care of yourself instead of acquiring external effects that are supposed to do that for you.
Do you realize that the pendulum switched? The future is here. There were only a few gaps to close, why even the digital generation has not been aware of losing their possibility to pull. It is definitely history that with free choice we can selectively draw from the endless streams of tunneled information to which we are bound. In the past you could find out where things were coming from without having to reveal your own origin / location. Today this is exactly the opposite. Today, in every area of life, things are pushed to us by the invisible, de facto uncontrollable global and artificial intelligence-enabled online content and service providers. These pushes are non-locatable and ubiquitous at the same time. There is no “where” anymore, except for ourselves, where we are assigned IP addresses, IDs, and usernames.
Our lifestyles and businesses now definitely got dominated by the rules of a (dystopian?) virtual world. This connectivity-enforced new disconnectedness will leave us for some time with mere memories of having lived in an in-person-world, where citizens had the choice between onsite and online services, where customers used to be king, where people were asked about the ‘why’ behind their data, and where they exchanged goods for tangible values. Internet platforms are inherently gravitating towards dominant market positions. Gone are the times where monopolistic situations and the related risk of abuse of power could be regulated, gone are the times where the “where” could be located and where the truth could be verified. Welcome to the no “where” generation.
By the way:
In the course of the upcoming ongoing mutations of viruses and the expected communication of the continuation of the contact restrictions, will we then receive a QUOTE FOR GOING OUT? Will citizens receive x tickets for cultural events such as concerts and museums, y vouchers for parties and z tokens for dining out? In this way, seditious uprisings by the people can be prevented (we’ve already come to terms with the privileged opportunities of richer citizens), and the online industry does not have to forego the continuation of the profits it has made since the beginning of the Corona crisis …
There may not be all bad:-). However, for alternative, possibly more humanistic approaches, there are a lot of ideas you can find on my website www.mathias-sager.com.
